Schools could perhaps be “education” or as you suggest “learning”. I guess the idea with using schools, (it’s John’s quote, not mine by the way) is that points to the space that we have traditionally seen as the place where learning happens. Learning has never, ever been dictated by space but school has. Recognizing that this is no longer the case helps to more clearly see the shifts many of us have seen for a while.

i’m not arguing against the use of those concepts. In fact, I’ve been using the terms learning and learner to substitute for schools and student quite a bit. Part of our work is to help others make that transition. The image might be useful in moving that conversation. In fact, you’ve pretty much articulated the discussion that you could have jumping off the photo. I think people need to see things in their current context. School buses and schools are what people are familiar with, trying to jump to quickly to virtual spaces might scare some folks off. Again, depending on the audience you’re trying to reach.